


'Til You Can't Tuck It In

by broadlicnic



Category: Being Human, Being Human (UK)
Genre: Coda, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-12
Updated: 2012-03-12
Packaged: 2017-11-01 21:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/361320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broadlicnic/pseuds/broadlicnic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coda to 4x06 - Puppy Love. Hal knew it wasn't polite to walk into a room unannounced.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'Til You Can't Tuck It In

Hal knew it wasn't polite to walk into a room unannounced. He knew it in the irritation he felt every time Tom opened his door without knocking, or Annie zapped into his room demanding he go to baby Eve without a thought for his routine. An invasion of privacy was infuriating, even if sometimes he did wish to be interrupted so that the distraction would interrupt the voices calling him back to the dark.

In his worst hours, he'd lie back on the bed, fists clenched, listening out for the door. Hoping, maybe even praying, for Annie to come in with a cup of tea. He could lie there for hours, staring without blinking, fighting back the shakes of his temptations and trying to hear Leo's voice in his mind. But nobody ever came in and soon it was morning, and Hal awoke with a resentment for Annie and Tom, even though they'd done exactly what Hal had asked them to do.

Bearing all this in mind, Hal really should have knocked before walking in on Tom, but the residual nervousness of his phone call to Alex, coupled with the fact that Annie had already done all of the cleaning in an effort to ignore Emrys, left Hal with no other alternative but to ask for a task.

"Tom, I need something -"

The first thing Hal always saw when he opened Tom's door was the wall collage. Some images had been removed, Hal knew the moment he saw it. The second thing he noticed was Tom curled up on the bed, back to Hal and staring out of the window. He couldn't see Tom's face, but his hunched shoulders, knees brought up to his chest and heavy breathing told Hal that he was hurting.

"Is everything alright?" Hal asked. Tom answered with a grunt.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Again, Tom didn't answer with words. Hal's gaze fell upon the floor, to the pile of clothes littered across the carpet; clean and dirty thrown together in an unholy orgy of mess.

"Okay," Hal said, closing the door behind him. "I'm going to tidy up in here. If you would like to talk, I'll listen. If not, I'll still have something to keep me occupied."

"Right," Tom muttered.

And so Hal began the cleaning. He made two separate piles, one of dirty clothes and one of clean. He folded the clothes in both piles, for ease of carrying to the wardrobe and carrying down to the laundry. He'd taken to carrying alcohol gel in his pocket, so touching Tom's dirty clothes was less of an issue than it would usually be, but still rather uncomfortable when he encountered boxer shorts. All the while, Tom remained silent, still staring out of the window, and in any other circumstance Hal would appreciate the quiet.

Closing the wardrobe door, Hal turned and spied something small and white on top of a pile of cut up magazines in the corner. He bent to pick up Allison's Blue Peter badge, running a thumb over the embossed blue ship, then turned it over between his thumb and forefinger as he would a domino. It occurred to him, then, that he hadn't needed to set up the dominoes since Tom had started creating jobs for him.

Gingerly, he sat on the edge of Tom's bed, badge clutched in his palm. Tom's gaze flicked from the window to Hal, but otherwise he made no effort to acknowledge his presence.

"This concerns Allison, doesn't it?" Hal asked.

"Yeah," Tom said. "Well...no. Sort of."

"Do you miss her?"

"She couldn't stay. She should be with her family."

"And you?" Hal asked, carefully.

"McNair said family is important," Tom continued, as if Hal hadn't spoke.

The mention of McNair filled Hal with a tension he could feel down to his bones. He hadn't asked Tom about his father much, but Annie had filled him in on how she and her old family came to know the McNairs, how Tom was cursed and how McNair was eventually killed. Hal had hoped that, by deciding on his tasks, Tom would be distracted from his own demons.

But now, in that melancholy space, distraction was the worst of all methods.

"You still have a family, Tom," Hal said. "Annie would kill us if we thought of each other any differently."

"Thanks," Tom said, pulling himself to sit up against the headrest. "I know we get on each other's nerves and that, but you're a good mate."

"Here," Hal said, extending the hand holding the badge. Tom clasped it, encasing the badge between their palms.

"I mean it," Tom said. "You and Annie, I'd be lost without yers."

"Likewise," Hal said, looking down at his hands and feeling the a grin creep across his face. "Will you be okay?"

"Yeah," Tom said, and released his hand.

Hal rose up off the bed, smoothing down his trousers and clearing his throat as he did so. He'd left the badge resting in Tom's hand, and he watched for a moment as Tom set it carefully on his bedside table. Then, with a nod, he turned and gathered up the pile of dirty laundry.

"Oh," Tom said, just as Hal reached the door. Hal turned, to be met by a vest crashing against his face. "Put that in too, will you?"

Hal shook his head in mock exasperation, but couldn't help but steal a few more glances at the now-shirtless Tom as he left the room.


End file.
